FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, June 2, 2017

Brooklyn Man Sentenced to up to 20 Years in State Prison
For 1998 Rape in Park Slope Subway Station

DNA Cold Case Hit Led to Arrest and Prosecution

Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a 45-year-old Brooklyn man has been convicted of raping a 19-year-old woman on a subway platform in 1998. The defendant was charged with the rape as a result of a “cold hit” in which a DNA sample obtained from the victim’s rape kit was positively matched to the defendant’s DNA profile in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).

Acting District Attorney Gonzalez said, “What began as an exciting day headed to a new job turned into an absolute nightmare for this young woman who crossed paths with this violent predator. Thankfully, the DNA recovered that day was used to hold the defendant accountable for this horrific act and bring justice to his victim, who bravely testified against him at trial.”

The Acting District Attorney identified the defendant as Johnny Jacob, 45, of Brooklyn. He was sentenced to an indeterminate term of 10 to 20 years in prison by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Dineen Riviezzo, following his conviction on charges of first-degree rape after a jury trial.

The Acting District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, on March 2, 1998, at approximately 9:30 a.m., the victim, who was 19 at the time and going to her first day of work, had just exited the M train at the 9th Street and Fourth Avenue stop. She was approached by the defendant, who ordered her to the back of the platform, while threatening to shoot her and placing what she believed to be a gun to her back. He forcibly raped her, then brought her outside of the train station and told her that he would kill her if she called the police.

The defendant, who was not known to the victim, then fled the scene. The victim ran to work, and her employer called 911 to report the rape. She was treated at Lutheran Hospital, where a rape kit was administered.

The defendant was arrested on October 4, 2013, after there was a DNA hit connecting the defendant to the semen found in the complainant’s rape kit. His DNA had been entered into the CODIS database following a conviction on federal money laundering charges.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Lisa Nugent and Assistant District Attorney Tamara Marshall, of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Miss Gregory, Chief.